


Pale Inks

by shatterbrained (fabricatedMiracles)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Flowers, Gen, Tattoos, Vagueness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 15:25:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2274870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricatedMiracles/pseuds/shatterbrained
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For all his life he would bear upon his skin the reminder that he was not any longer, and had perhaps never been, one of those people in the water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pale Inks

**Author's Note:**

> aube here. a request for tumblr user dupliblaze of bro getting a tattoo. requests open; hit me here or on tumblr at http://aetherealsymphony.tumblr.com whenever.

The pain was only present until the Ibuprofen kicked in, and then getting that tattoo was just a waiting game. It being between his shoulders made it rather impossible to do anything with his arms, so he just lay there, musing a bit as the buzzing and faint chatter from the other rooms in the shop faded out of his primary attention.

The first point on his mind was that he was not meant to be here at all. He was probably supposed to be out doing something important, something of consequence to the world, but he was here in a tattoo parlor getting his skin marked in faint, watery colors instead.

Second on his mind was the fact that he was having a flower permanently marked onto himself, and not even in vibrant ink; it was in dead white and watery green and distant orange. It would look like another scar, from a distance, but that did not deter the young blond being worked on.

It, after all, was much less for other people than for himself.

He didn't believe in astrology, mythology, or theology, or put much stock into symbolism, usually. But what he'd learned in biology had driven him to do what he was doing. He had made connections, comparisons, and in the end, out of all the things he'd studied, that was the one he'd likened himself most to.

An orange lotus.

_Nelumbo nucifera._

It was often mistaken as related to the common water lily, when in reality, the lotus was a completely different kind of flora. It grew in muddy water and it bloomed pure and solitary.

Presumably every part of it was edible; not only did it flower prettily, but it was capable of giving itself completely to whoever might be able to come into the water where it lay and take it.

Only nineteen years old, he himself was flowering in dark water, becoming a person who stood out from the rest, who thought on planes beyond those of the people who flowed around him in waves. He was distant, not ever quite making a connection with those around him, but if someone, he knew, would wade past the throngs of others around to find him, there would eventually be little to nothing of him that could or would not be given out to that person.

So he sat still and let the artist behind him mark upon his skin a permanent reminder of who he was. Of his quiet detachment from most of the world around him. Of how he was not just another person, but a new man altogether.

"Done," A voice came behind him, snapping him back into reality. Clearing his throat, he raised his head as the artist made sure he was completely finished, and then handed him a pair of mirrors so that he could see himself.

It was lovely and pale when he looked at it, only reddened by the skin irritation, and he acquiesced to the artist's desire to photograph it. A snap, a flash, and then a quick "What's your name?" followed.

"Doesn't matter. I'm just a guy with a lotus tattoo."

And then, he was gone and long-forgotten; he was on his way out back into a world that was a lot less than pretty.

For all his life he would bear upon his skin the reminder that he was not any longer, and had perhaps never been, one of those people in the water.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos? comments? requests? cool. leave them here. they always motivate me!


End file.
